"In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson

Erik Larson has already established himself as one of the most interesting authors on an international scale, with real masterpieces such as Devil in the White City, perhaps his most famous work to date.

Well, after having explored serial killing and Chicago at the turn of the century, Erik Larson set his sights on 1933 Berlin and the troubles an American family is going through while trying to survive under the rising Nazi movement.

The story starts in 1933, as William E. Dodd becomes the first American ambassador in Hitler’s Germany. Naturally, William does not come along as he brings his family, consisting of his wife, son and daughter, along with him.

Being strangers in a strange land, the Dodds do not really know what is what, but their daughter, Martha, is starting to take quite a liking to the parties there as well as the handsomely-groomed men of The Third Reich.

Eventually, Martha falls in love with Hitler’s Germany and changes romantic partners like socks, even becoming the lover of Rudolf Diels, the chief of the Gestapo.

However, as the persecution of the Jews becomes more and more commonplace, eventually turning into an official policy, the father becomes increasingly worried, attempting to reach back to his own government who remains largely indifferent towards the situation.

We are taken through the life of the Dodds as they witness how Germany is turning into an autocratic police state, with Jews being persecuted, freedom of speech being censored, not to mention various unsettling new laws which are soon to be passed.

While we may know a lot about it from history books, the fact remains that the time during which Hitler rose to power may very well be one of the most confusing periods in mankind.

Even today, we are still asking ourselves how people could have committed themselves to supporting such atrocities. Erik Larson explores this turbulent time with great diligence, filling it with accurate historical facts while managing to maintain his work of fiction at the center of the reading.

All in all, it is great for those who are looking for a historically-accurate and intriguing book which explores human character and how one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humankind occurred.

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Erik Larson Personal site Erik Larson is an American author of non-fiction and journalist whose works touch on the more morbid and practical side of life. The Devil in the White City, for instance, is an exploration of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the infamous crimes perpetrated by the serial killer H.H. Holmes, while in the Garden of Beasts, his latest work, looks into the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd.